Nelson and Murdock
by Black Canary719
Summary: A series of one-shots about Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson, Avocados at Law. One-shots from pre-series, seasons one and two, and beyond.
1. Help With the Pain

**So this is going to be a series of one-shots surrounding Matt and Foggy. I should have some from their college years, their time as interns at Landman and Zack, throughout season 1, between the seasons, throughout season 2, and post season 2. Some will be more on the funny side, and some will be more serious, because I love these guys and their friendship (and I need them to be friends again in season 3). You can totally interpret them as slash or just as friendship, whatever you prefer. I don't currently have any plans for stories that explicitly make them a couple, but I'm not opposed to it if I come up with a good enough idea. Just friendship is absolutely fine too, though. I hope you guys enjoy.**

 **Help With the Pain**

 **Set in the early days of season 1, before Foggy found out, and before the stuff with Fisk started to get really bad.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Daredevil or Marvel.**

Matt was aware that he was limping very slightly as he walked down the street towards the office. He was trying to stop, but his leg seriously hurt. His walking stick wasn't designed as a cane to help support his weight, but he was using it more for that this morning than he was to search the pavement in front of him. He needed to get a grip on himself and just start taking the pain. He couldn't limp into work like this. It was going to be hard enough to explain away the bruising on his face and the stitches on his forehead. He didn't need to make the situation worse.

He had gone out last night, just to patrol a little, make sure everything in the neighborhood was okay. He hadn't been looking for trouble. He had, of course, found trouble. And it had not gone super well. He had won, in the end, but the fight had left him beaten and bloody. The pain had not receded much by the morning. He really hadn't wanted to get out of bed, but he couldn't skip work without rousing the suspicions (and concerns) of Foggy and Karen. So he had forced himself to get up. Getting ready had taken twice as long as it usually would because he was moving slowly to avoid aggravating his injuries, and now he was running late. He had even resorted to taking a small amount of pain medication (he _hated_ the stuff; it made his head fuzzy and dulled his senses, making it much harder to get around and making him feel much more blind than he normally did), but it wasn't helping. This was going to be a long day.

As he approached the office, he used all his willpower to lessen his limp as much as possible, putting all the weight he could bear on his injured left leg. It was better, but he was still limping very slightly. It was the best he could do, though. He would just have to sit down as much as possible that day and hope that Foggy didn't notice. He went inside and slowly made his way up the stairs to their door.

Foggy's voice greeted him. "Matt, there you are." He said. He was standing at the coffee pot, pouring himself a cup. "Sorry, that's the last of it. Karen just went out to get more. If you weren't here by the time she came back, she was going to go to your apartment and look for you. What held you up?" He turned around, and that was the first time he looked at Matt properly. His face instantly morphed into one of alarm and concern, and he put his cup down. "My god, Matt, what happened?"

"It's nothing." Matt dismissed lightly, hastily turning away and starting for his office. "Sorry I'm late, I overslept."

"You're limping." Foggy said immediately before Matt had gotten more than a couple of steps. Matt sighed and stopped. Foggy walked over to him. "Seriously, what happened to you?"

"Nothing happened, Foggy." Matt said. He felt Foggy move next to him, and lay his hand on Matt's shoulder, which unfortunately he had also pulled rather badly the night before. He flinched automatically at the gentle pressure of Foggy's hand, and silently cursed himself as Foggy immediately pulled back and tensed with obvious concern.

"Don't give me any of that crap, Matt." He said sternly. "Something must have happened."

Matt shook his head and continued to his office (allowing himself to limp more obviously now, since there was no fooling Foggy at this point), practically falling into his chair with a pained grunt. "I'll be fine, really. It's not that bad."

Foggy followed him into the office. "Did somebody do this to you?" He demanded. When Matt didn't say anything, he took that as an affirmative and said, "Who was it?"

"A couple of muggers." Matt said. This was not a lie, strictly speaking. It had been a couple of muggers. He just hadn't been the one getting mugged.

"Seriously?" Foggy cried. "Holy shit, Matt. You need to report this to the police."

"I did." Matt said, again only sort of lying. He had left the muggers for the police after taking them down.

"Why didn't you call me?" Foggy asked. "I would have come to help you!"

"The muggers didn't exactly give me a chance to call a friend for backup, Foggy."

"Of course not, but after! You shouldn't have done it all yourself. Did you even go to the hospital?"

Matt shook his head. "It really isn't that bad."

"Really? Because it looks like they beat you to a bloody pulp. You still should have gotten some help. I mean…did you do those stitches yourself?" He demanded.

Matt self-consciously brushed his hand over the stitches on his forehead. "I told you, I used to do it for my dad all the time. I can do stitches, it doesn't matter that I can't see anymore."

"I know, but…holy _shit_ , Matt!"

"Look, I'm going to be okay." Matt insisted. "I'm just a little sore, that's all."

"Just a little sore? Why do I get the feeling that's a massive understatement? Did you even…wait, did you take a cab here, or walk this morning?"

"…it isn't that far a walk."

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" Foggy demanded. "Or me? Is that it, are you trying to kill me? Because I swear, Murdock, you take at least ten years off my life."

"I think that's an exaggeration."

"I don't think it is, actually."

Matt hear Karen a moment before she opened the door. "Foggy, I got the coffee!" She called.

Foggy leaned back and stuck his head through Matt's door so he could see her. "Matt got mugged last night." He said.

"What?" Karen hurried over, and gasped when she saw Matt. "Oh my god!"

Matt was beginning to feel like he was losing control of the situation. "Honestly, guys, I'm _fine_. Don't worry. It happens."

"You should have called." Karen said fretfully.

"There's nothing you guys could have done. I just wanted to get some sleep."

"Who mugs a blind guy, anyway?" Foggy asked, thoroughly disgusted at the thought. "How low is that?"

"Maybe they're equal opportunity muggers." Matt said dryly.

"Oh, ha, ha, ha." Foggy said sarcastically. Maybe he could sense he was starting to tread on Matt's nerves, however, because he said, "Okay, fine, we'll leave you alone. But do you need anything?"

"Nothing at all." Matt replied. "Just maybe don't ask me to walk around too much today."

"Deal." Foggy agreed. He started to go, then paused and asked, "They didn't get too much off of you, did they?"

Matt frowned, confused. "What?"

"The muggers." Foggy said. When Matt continued frowning, he went on, "Traditionally, you know, muggers mug people to get, you know…money."

Oh, right. "Oh yeah, um, I didn't have much on me at the time." Matt said quickly. "They only got a couple dollars. Maybe that's why they were so angry, huh?"

"Good." Foggy said. "It's bad enough they beat you up like that. Don't need them bankrupting you too." He walked out of the office, ushering Karen along with him. Matt heaved a deep sigh and sat back in his chair. Hopefully he had averted this crisis, and they wouldn't ask any more questions.

 **000000000ooooooooo000000000**

 **That Evening**

He took it back. The pain medication must have been doing something, because the pain had only gotten worse since it had worn off. By the end of the day, Matt wanted nothing more than to curl up on his bed and never move again.

Foggy appeared in his doorway as they all packed up to leave. "Come on." He said. "I'm escorting you home. You shouldn't be out there alone again, not tonight."

Matt didn't have enough energy to argue with him. "Fine." He agreed. If Foggy was surprised by his immediate consent then he didn't show it, and Matt was too distracted by the pain to read more into him. He stood up slowly, trying not to groan, and tested his leg. He hissed as pain shot through it, and resorted to just limping as he grabbed his bag and his cane. Reaching out to grab the bag was a bad move, however, as the pain in his right shoulder became so intense that he actually had to stop in his tracks and compose himself, swearing harshly under his breath.

"That bad?" Foggy asked, taking a step closer.

"I'll be fine." Matt grunted.

"Uh-huh. And I play baseball with the New York Yankees."

"Foggy…"

"Come on." Foggy said, linking his arm with Matt's good one. "I'm not leaving you alone like this. You're coming home with me."

"You don't have to-"

"Shut up. And come. With. Me." He gently pulled Matt along, ignoring his stuttering protests and being careful not to hurt him. Matt sighed and eventually surrendered, following Foggy outside and letting him get them a cab.

When they got to Foggy's apartment, he told Matt to sit down on the couch. "What hurts the most?" He asked as he set their bags down.

 _Everything,_ Matt thought with a grimace, but he said, "My shoulder."

Foggy nodded to himself without thinking, then remembered and said, "Um, okay. I'll get you something." He disappeared into the kitchen, and then returned a moment later and sat down next to Matt on the couch. "Here, frozen peas." He said, placing the cold bag in Matt's hands. "They make a good ice pack."

"Thanks." Matt said. He grinned. "I didn't think you liked peas."

"They're purely for medicinal purposes." Foggy informed him, and Matt snorted with laughter.

"Right. Well, thanks." He set the bag down and started taking his jacket off and loosening his tie. "Do you mind if I…?"

"No, go ahead, it's probably a good idea." Foggy said quickly as Matt started unbuttoning his shirt. He pulled it off, and Foggy looked at his injured shoulder. He took a sharp breath at the sight of the large purple bruise covered most of it. "Jesus, Matt."

"I think it probably looks worse than it is." Matt said as he pressed the frozen peas to the bruise, wincing a little at the intense cold against his skin.

"I certainly hope so." Foggy said. He got to his feet. "You hungry? I have some leftover Chinese food I was going to heat up, there should be enough."

"That would be great, thanks." Matt said. "And, Foggy?" He added before Foggy could walk away. "Thanks."

Foggy smiled. "Don't worry about it." He said. "You'd do the same for me."

"I would." Matt said. "Really." He sighed and sat back as Foggy left for the kitchen. Guilt was starting to eat at him for lying, for not telling Foggy the truth about what happened even after he was going out of his way to help him, but he forced himself to ignore it for the time being. He was getting disturbingly good at that, he realized. That was something he would have to think about.

For the time, though, he just wanted to relax with his friend and have dinner. Like old times. The pain seemed a little more bearable when someone like Foggy was there to distract him.

His thoughts were broken by the sound of Foggy's voice as he walked back in. "Hey, I have some pain meds. I know you never liked taking any, but these are special circumstances. You want some?"

Matt sighed. "It's harder for me to get around when I use them." He admitted. "They make me go all…fuzzy."

"Which would be bad in this situation how?" Foggy asked. "Don't worry, man, you don't have to go anywhere."

"I know." Matt said quietly. "I just…I don't like it. It makes me feel…" He trailed off, aware that Foggy was waiting, and then finally said, "…blind."

He waited for a moment, and when Foggy spoke, it was gentle, understanding. "Fair enough." He said. "What about beer?"

"That I would be fine with." Matt agreed. "Thanks."

"No problem. Just do one thing for me, okay? Don't make a habit out of this. I mean it when I say I worry about you. Karen does too. And I know better than most that you can take care of yourself, but it's hard not to worry when you show up at work with mysterious bruises and go around getting mugged late at night. Just try to be careful, alright?"

Trying not to think about how his plans probably meant a lot more mysterious bruises, Matt forced himself to grin. "Yes, Mom."

"Partner." Foggy corrected. "Same difference, really. Anyway, I'll get the food and the beer." He walked away again, and Matt relaxed slightly, allowing a small, more genuine smile to appear on his lips. He knew there were rough times ahead, but times like this were what made it worth it.

 **Please review!**


	2. Drinks and Reunions

**Drinks and Reunions**

 **Set after season 2, but before The Defenders.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Daredevil or Marvel.**

To say that Foggy was tired seemed like a massive understatement. Unforgivably massive, actually. He wasn't sure what word he would use to describe how he felt, but he was pretty sure it would be stronger than "tired".

He was a few months into his new job at Hogarth Chao & Benowitz, and while he enjoyed the work, the job was incredibly demanding. It was fast paced with high stakes, and in so many ways a change from working at Nelson and Murdock. It had been an adjustment, but he thought he was getting the hang of it. And it was nice to have an abundance of cases at his fingertips, to be able to just do his job, even if it wasn't exactly what he had pictured for his career. He would be lying if he said he didn't sometimes miss the atmosphere of the old office with Karen and Matt, but for the most part he had no complaints.

Well, except for how god damn tired he was.

He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. He was sitting alone in his office. Darkness had long ago fallen outside. He just wanted to finish going over the file on his new case, since he was meeting with the client the next day. After that he could go home. It had been a long day, and he just wanted it to be over. "You wanted this, Nelson." He mumbled aloud to himself. "This was your career choice. You could have picked something less exhausting, but you wanted this."

He leaned forward and went back to reading, only to be interrupted a few moments later by a knock on the door. It took him a few seconds to remember that the secretary had already gone home. He sighed. "Come in." He called.

The door opened, and a hesitant voice said, "Um, I can just go, if this is a bad time."

Foggy whipped his head up in surprise. Matt was lingering in the doorway, looking uncertain as to whether he should go inside or bail on the whole idea. Foggy's voice got caught in his throat for a moment. He and Matt hadn't seen each other in months. He had checked in on him shortly after the thing with Elektra, just to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, but it had been a brief visit and they hadn't spoken since. "Hi." Foggy said finally, when he got his voice working again.

"I…you're busy." Matt said. Foggy didn't asked him how he knew. "I'll just go, this was a bad idea."

He started to turn around, but Foggy spoke quickly without even thinking. "No!" Matt paused, and Foggy cleared his throat and said, "I mean, um, it's okay. How did you know I'd still be here?"

"You weren't at your apartment." Matt replied. "It wasn't hard to figure out where you were if you weren't there. I thought about waiting until you came home, but I decided to come and check out your new office. This is nice."

"Yeah, it is." Foggy agreed. "Why were you looking for me?"

He hesitated again. "I just wanted to say hello." He said finally.

"You could have called." Foggy pointed out. He didn't mean it as coldly as it came out. Or maybe he did. To be honest, he wasn't sure how he felt about Matt these days.

"I know." Matt said. "I should have just done that. I don't know what I'm doing here." He looked sad and sort of hurt, a little like a kicked puppy, but accepting, like this was what expected to happen and he knew he deserved it, and again, Foggy wasn't sure if that was what he wanted or not. "I'm sorry. I guess I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright."

"I'm alright." Foggy said. He debated internally for a moment, and then asked, "How are you?"

"I'm doing okay." Matt replied. "Thanks." There was an awkward silence, and then he said, "I'll just go. I should let you get back to your work. I'll see you around, Foggy."

He started to leave again, and Foggy made a split second decision. "Do you want to get a drink?" He asked suddenly.

Matt paused and looked back at him, startled. "I…are you sure? Don't you have work to do?"

"I can do it in the morning." Foggy said. "I was just trying to get a head-start. I could use a drink. I mean, it's cool if you don't want to, but…"

"No, a drink sounds good." Matt said quickly. "Let's do it."

"Okay." Foggy said, standing up and shoving his stuff into his bag before he had the chance to question his decisions. "Let's go."

 **000000000oooooooooo000000000**

It had been a while since Foggy had been to Josie's. Matt said they could go somewhere else, but at this point Foggy couldn't really picture getting a drink with him anywhere else. When they walked in and sat down at the bar, Josie made a tutting noise at them. "Well, look who's decided to grace us with their presence." She said.

"Hi Josie." Foggy said. "The usual, if you can remember it." Josie grumbled something in reply and got them their beers.

Both of them drank in silence for a minute or so, each of them trying to decide what to say. Foggy finally decided just to rip the band aid off. "Have you talked to Karen at all?" He asked.

"A little." Matt said. "We've spoken a few times. She seems to like her new job."

"Yeah, she does." Foggy agreed. He had been keeping up with Karen pretty regularly, and had gotten to hear all about her job at the newspaper. He could tell how much she loved her work. "She's good at it." He added.

"Yes she is." Matt said with a small smile. "Well we always knew she was wasted as our secretary."

Foggy laughed a little. "That is true." He said. He looked at Matt. "What have you been up to?" He asked. He had to admit, this was something he had found himself thinking about a great deal in the months since he had last seen him. It was hard to turn off worrying about Matt. He was sure that Elektra's death and everything else that had happened must have had an effect on him, and he couldn't help but worry about how he was doing. "Have you found a job?"

"I've been working a few cases." Matt said. "Mostly pro-bono work. I like it. I feel like I'm actually doing some good for once."

Foggy smiled. "Good." He said. "I kind of miss that sometimes."

"Your firm's not so bad." Matt said. "I mean, yeah, it has the same kind of baggage and questionable wealthy cliental as any major law firm, but it's better than some. Compared to Landman and Zack it's practically angelic."

Foggy snorted with laughter. "I suppose you're right about that one." He said. "I'm glad you're taking cases again, though. You are actually a good lawyer, when you bother to put in the effort."

"Thanks." Matt said quietly. "I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it." Silence fell again. Foggy was about to ask about what kinds of cases he'd been working (not sure he was ready to take the conversation beyond work yet) when Matt suddenly spoke first. "I miss you." He spoke softly, and he had his head tilted down like he was looking at his drink, but Foggy had no doubt he was carefully monitoring his reaction. "That's why I came to your office. I miss you. I know that a lot has happened, but you're still the closest friend I've ever had. And I know that I've treated you badly. I've done things that weren't at all fair to you. I betrayed your trust and I hurt you. And there's nothing I can do about that except say that I'm sorry. And look, you don't have any reason to forgive me, or to want me back in your life. And if you don't want to have anything to do with me, I understand and accept that, and I'll leave you alone. You don't have to see me ever again if you don't want to. But if you're willing to give me another chance…I'm trying to do better. And I miss you."

Foggy listened to his speech silently and took a moment to absorb it. He couldn't deny, even to himself, that he had missed Matt too. He couldn't act like he hadn't thought about going to see him, just as Matt had ended up doing himself. But he also didn't think he could pretend that it all just hadn't happened, either. "I hear no one has seen Daredevil in a while." He said casually.

Matt tensed a little. "I heard he retired." He said.

"You think he means it?" Foggy asked.

"I think he's trying to." Matt replied. "I think as much as he cares about Hell's Kitchen, he lost a lot and hurt the people he cares about. And he doesn't want to do that anymore. So he's trying to let it go."

"Can he promise he's not going to end up going back if he discovers something he feels is a big threat?" Foggy asked.

It took Matt a few moments to answer that one. "He'll cross that bridge when he comes to it."

"Fair enough." Foggy sighed under his breath. "You know, maybe the people who care about him don't necessarily disagree with desire to protect people. Maybe it's not even that they don't understand why he does it. Maybe they're just worried about him putting himself in harm's way in the process. They don't want him to disregard his life, because he's important too."

"He knows that." Matt said.

Foggy shook his head. "I don't know. He seemed like kind of an idiot to me." Matt laughed, and Foggy had to smile. "I miss you too." He said. "All the time. But we can't just go back to the way things were."

"I know." Matt said, a slightly more hopeful note entering his voice now. "I need to earn your friendship back. And I want to, if you'll give me the chance. However you're comfortable with. It's up to you."

"We can start slow." Foggy said. He glanced around the musty bar. "I missed this place."

A smile quirked on Matt's face. "Really?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised too." Foggy said. He took a drink of his beer, and then said, "We can keep doing this, if you're interested. Just get a drink every once in a while. Get to know each other again. Try to have a good time. Like we used to."

"That sounds good." Matt agreed. "I'd like that."

"Good." Foggy said. He looked down at his drink. "Now I'm going to down this beer."

Matt grinned. "Don't you have work tomorrow?"

"Just because I have a better job does not mean I am making better life choices." Foggy informed him. "It has been a draining evening. Drink with me."

"If you say so." Matt said. He picked up his drink. "Cheers."

"Cheers." Foggy agreed. They clinked their drinks together and drank them as quickly as they could. Foggy coughed, slamming his glass on the counter a little harder than he meant to.

Matt made a face. "Wow, that's awful."

"That used to be easier." Foggy said, still coughing.

"I don't know, you were always kind of a lightweight." Matt said teasingly.

" _I'm_ the lightweight?" Foggy cried, looking at him incredulously. "No way, Murdock. I knew you in college."

"It's possible you and I remember college a little differently."

"I'm surprised you remember it at all."

Matt laughed, and Foggy couldn't help but laugh as well. He regained his composure and then said, "No point in stopping now. Josie, two more, please." He called to Josie, and then turned to Matt. "So tell me about what you've been doing."

"There's not much to tell." Matt said.

"I don't care. Tell me anyway."

So Matt started telling him about the first pro-bono case he'd worked on, and the noisy new neighbor who had moved in across the hall who left his TV on all night, and how he had run into a former client of theirs at the store the other day, and Foggy had the most fun evening he'd had in months.

 **One of my goals for the summer is to return to this, because I do have several ideas that I really like but just have not had the chance to write. So hopefully I'll have more for you soon. Please review!**


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